I'd argue the ultimate goal of academia and academic research isn't making technology. That's based on a very narrow view of academia (focusing entirely on engi

I'd argue the ultimate goal of academia and academic research isn't making technology. That's based on a very narrow view of academia (focusing entirely on engineering and the sciences with immediate technological applicability), and on the premise that we want only technological gadgets rather than understanding as and end goal. The primary end goal of academic research should be to understand and find answers to interesting questions, not to build applications. The applications are a good secondary goal, but not the only one. You may or may not want to support that first goal, but that shouldn't distort the goal of academic research into just a technology factory. Of course that doesn't mean a lot of research isn't crap. But you also have to remember that research that is novel, broadly interesting and high quality is a lot harder to do than yet another application. I also agree that the quantity of papers published shouldn't be a target. I think almost everybody agrees on that. (FWIW, I'm not in academia.)